1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to vending machines and in particular to a modular front loading vending machine with a rotary coin mechanism for dispensing different sizes and quantities of merchandise.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Vending machines provide a convenient way to sell merchandise at a variety of locations without the need for a salesperson to be present at the transaction. Customers select the merchandise, input the necessary amount of money and receive the merchandise dispensed from the machine. Periodically the vending machines are refilled with merchandise and the money emptied by the owners of the machines.
Because of the often remote and normally unattended location of the vending machines, vandalism and theft are problems. People attempt to remove merchandise from the vending machines without inputting money, remove more merchandise than they have paid for, steal money, or just damage the machine. Sharp objects are often inserted in the dispensing slot to access the merchandise or around the edges of the vending machine doors or opening panels in an attempt to open them. Often coin mechanisms are damaged.
Many prior art vending machines are difficult to service and require moving the machines for access to restock merchandise or remove the money. In remote locations service people have no table or counter on which to set merchandise, tools, or money while working on the machines, but very often use the ground or floor for a work surface. Often vending machines provide dispensers for a single size of merchandise and a single quantity of the merchandise dispensed. Structural changes would be required to prepare some of the prior art vending machines to dispense different sizes of merchandise.
Many vending machines, especially those dispensing flat merchandise, have a pull type reciprocating dispensing mechanism which may cause the machine to tip over onto the user if the pull mechanism is yanked out too aggressively.
Many of the working components of prior art vending machines are built into the cabinets or secured with fasteners requiring tools to change the components.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,168,784 which issued Sep. 25, 1979, to William Heier ("the Heier patent") discloses a flat product vending machine with one or more reciprocating coin slides and a plurality of reciprocating product dispensing levers independent of the coin slide. The Heier patent operates, after insertion of a coin or coins and pushing the coin slide, by one product dispensing, lever pulling a vend plate assembly forward to push aside an array of disks in a transverse channel which block any other vend plate from moving forward, while the vend plate forces a flat product out of a vend slot. The vend plate assembly remains to block any further vending until the coin slide is pushed in again forcing the vend plate assembly back to prepare for vending. The Heier patent operating mechanisms are overly complex requiring a two-step operation to vend with a danger of tipping the vending machine when pulling the vend lever.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,702,392 which issued Oct. 27, 1987, to Isadore B. Rachman ("the Rachman patent") discloses a flat package vending machine with a rotary coin mechanism having a rotating cam which engages an activator rod which pushes an activator rod back to release a vend plate assembly as described in the Heier patent. The Rachman patent also requires pulling a vend lever to activate the Heier patent type vend plate assembly. As in the Heier patent, the Rachman patent has a relatively complex mechanism to push back on all of the vend plate assemblies to disengage the one in the blocking position to enable one of the vend levers to be pulled.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,363,393 which issued Dec. 14, 1982, to Winford G. McDonald ("the McDonald patent") discloses a rotary coin mechanism which uses a continually rotating operating knob as is used in the present invention. However, the McDonald patent uses a mechanically complicated cam and lever system to push the merchandise for it to fall out of a dispensing chute.